Stan Lee Media Inc. Is Suing Conan The Barbarian

It goes without saying that Conan The Barbarian was a massive disappointment. In addition to getting absolutely dismal reviews, the Marcus Nispel-directed film opened at #4 last weekend and only took in a little over $10 million. Considering it had a $90 million budget, the movie will need to pull a miracle out of its ass internationally if it doesn't want to go down as one of the biggest flops of 2011. You know what's not making the situation any earlier? Stan Lee Media Inc. is demanding every penny they actually managed to make.

EW has learned that the company that was started by the comic book legend filed a lawsuit against the studio and the film this past Friday at the U.S. District Court for 100% of the movie's proceeds. The basis for the suit dates back to 2000, when Stan Lee Media purchased the rights to the Conan series. The company then went bankrupt and in 2002 the rights were sold to Paradox Entertainment, however, according to the lawsuit, the sale of the intellectual property was not legal, as they didn't have the permission of the stockholders. The suit also says that the company was betrayed by their lawyer who brokered the sale.

It should be noted that this isn't exactly the first time that Stan Lee Media has attempted a lawsuit over intellectual property. In fact, if you go over to the company's Wikipedia page you can see an extensive list of previous cases. The thing that I find most interesting is the timing. If Stan Lee Media Inc. had filed a suit while the film was still in production they could have stopped it from getting made in the first place. By filing on the day of release, they could potentially get every penny the movie makes without having spent a penny. We'll be sure to update as this case develops.